Task forces will target state's gangs

What they think - My word - Bill McCollum and Rick McAllister

October 12, 2008|By Bill McCollum and Rick McAllister

Gang activity in Florida has grown to more than 1,500 active criminal gangs with more than 65,000 gang members. Gangs are the primary sales force for illicit drugs in our state and cause much of the violent crime.

They affect not only our residential communities, but our businesses as well. Organized retail theft costs the industry $32 billion nationwide every year. A comprehensive and coordinated action plan is essential to halt, and ultimately reverse, the growth of gangs in our state.

During the past year, a coordinating council was created, which developed Florida's first statewide strategy to address the entire life cycle of gang membership from recruitment and active membership to incarceration and release. Accordingly, seven regional task forces are being formed, and each county is being asked to form its own task force as part of the regional effort, to implement the strategy in ways best suited to local conditions and resources.

These task forces will provide Florida's business community with a unique opportunity in which to engage. Florida needs business leaders -- with the Florida Retail Federation leading the way -- to participate in the task forces and help develop effective programs to address this threat to our state. A significant priority will be targeted prevention and intervention efforts in areas of the community where gangs recruit youth. Businesses can assist these efforts by training, hiring and encouraging at-risk youngsters, turning potential liabilities into new assets.

Once prosecuted and incarcerated, many gang members serve their sentences, re-offend after release and often rejoin and even lead their original gangs. This pattern of recidivism must be broken with educational and counseling efforts within the prison walls including mentoring and job-training opportunities. Additionally, job placement, mentoring and counseling for several years after release are necessary to ensure ex-felons lead crime-free lives and don't return to their gangs.

In addition to the support needed from the business community, federal, state and local law enforcement must devote resources to target, arrest and prosecute key gang members. Organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, the Boy Scouts and Urban Leagues must work together to coordinate prevention efforts targeted to youth most at risk for gang recruitment.

Working together, we can look forward to the day when those whose lives are threatened or ruined by gangs -- gang victims, gang members and the families of both -- will no longer live under this danger. The task will be neither easy nor quick, but if the strategy is followed, it can be successful.